


Ophelia with the Rockstar Hair

by ShakespeareFreak



Category: Hamlet - Shakespeare, Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Ballad, F/M, Forever Knight: Dying for Fame, Inspired by Forever Knight: Dying for Fame, Inspired by Hamlet, Inspired by Orfe - Cynthia Voigt, Poetry, Song - Freeform, but it's pretty repetitive when sung aloud, there is a tune to this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-07
Updated: 2019-05-07
Packaged: 2020-02-27 17:23:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18743605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShakespeareFreak/pseuds/ShakespeareFreak
Summary: The ballad of Ophelia, a musician who rose from obscurity to become a rock legend... or, "What if?"





	Ophelia with the Rockstar Hair

 Ophelia was a quiet girl,  
Always did what Daddy'd say  
Her blond hair hung in demure curls,  
And she'd say "no"  
When a guy said, "Let's go  
All the way"

And that was how it went until one day... 

Daddy he was lecturing  
Ophelia just wanted to sing.  
At once she stood and turned to go;  
Daddy said, "Stop!"  
She said, "... _No_." 

Ophelia went and dyed her hair  
On the street they'd stop and stare  
Bought a guitar secondhand  
From some guy in a rock band 

She said she would like to try it  
He warned her no one else would buy it  
He said, "Miss, that thing won't play"  
She said, "I'll take it anyway" 

She taught herself how to play  
The songs her soul sang everyday  
Hair in multicolored curls  
No longer the quiet girl

 On her first performance night  
Ophelia's heart fluttered with fright  
Weeds strewn in her wild hair  
Old blue jeans torn everywhere 

And as she stepped onto the stage,  
She heard jeers and cries of rage  
When they saw this timid, fragile child  
But still her soul sang, deep and wild

 The jeering in her ears began to ring,  
But she closed her eyes, and started to sing...

And  
_She sang of love,_  
_She sang of laughter,_  
_She sang of brooks running clear in the sun_  
_She sang of joy,  
__Of the thrill of the stage,  
__Of grabbing life before it is done_

She opened her eyes and looked around  
From the audience, not a sound...

Then they began to shout with glee,  
To cheer like the caged bird set free  
They began to beg for more,  
The shouts rang out:  _"Encore!"_

Ophelia with the rockstar hair  
Began to dance right then and there  
She never really stopped dancing;  
Her soul never ceased to sing

Ophelia with the rockstar hair  
And now her fans were everywhere  
A hero to the quiet girls  
A rainbow captured in her curls

_She sang of sweetness,_  
_Of a kiss in the summer,_  
_Of eating honey straight out of the jar_  
_She sang of dreams  
_ _When your dreams come true,  
_ _Of running, panting, fast and far_  

Then one day she met a boy  
Long blond hair and all piercings  
He brought her unsuspected joy  
It seemed her heart was given wings 

It went so fast it was insane  
The next day they were seen together  
They were caught dancing in the rain  
Their love could withstand stormy weather

One day he went down on one knee,  
Said, "Your love has set me free"  
Said, "Will you please marry me?"

 Ophelia with the rockstar hair  
Left her boy just kneeling there  
Said, "I'm married already  
To my music, can't you see?"

Ophelia with the rockstar hair  
Oh, she could dance without a care  
In front of worldwide cheering fans  
People screaming in the stands

Ophelia with the rockstar hair  
A rock goddess without compare  
Every night it was the same,  
Her fans shouting out her name  
A million voices chanting:

**_"OH, OPHELIA!"_ **

Ophelia with the rockstar hair  
And then… one day she wasn't there.  
Sank beneath our consciousness  
Like drowning in deep water...

No one knew just where she'd gone  
She just walked away one morn  
With a ratty old knapsack  
On fame and fortune, turned her back

 Ophelia with the rockstar hair  
Her songs still chanted everywhere  
On a street corner, hear her tunes;  
The lovers hum beneath the moon

They say  
_"She sang of the breeze_  
_On your cheek in the morning,_  
_She sang of stars, and of new-fallen snow_  
_She sang of rebirth,  
__Of second chances,  
__Of childhood carnivals long ago_

_The taste of sweet ice cream_  
_That melts in your mouth,  
_ _Of crunching leaves,  
_ _Of watching geese flying South"_

Ophelia with the rockstar hair  
The ballad of a beauty rare  
She sang about all these things  
So someday we, too, might sing.

**Author's Note:**

> _Written 2007_
> 
> I wrote this while acting in William Shakespeare's _Hamlet_ in 2007. It's based on my opinion that Ophelia's tragedy lies in the way society viewed women in her day and age: she was expected to look pretty, obey her father and be subservient to all men, and above all sit down and shut up. I'm pretty sure that my cast's Ophelia, and her spunky interpretation of the role, led me to write this. The whole thing hinges on the question "What if Ophelia had lived today, in a society where gender roles aren't so harshly defined?" 
> 
> I also took heavy inspiration from Cynthia Voigt's novel _Orfe,_ which I adored to no end as a preteen, and the _Forever Knight_ episode "Dying for Fame" and its character of the rock star Rebecca.
> 
> The writing style seems pretty immature to me nowadays, over a decade later, but I still can't help but think there's something special in it; something that perhaps could not be recaptured by a 30-year-old writer, if I tried to polish it too hard.


End file.
